Reflections

All

Cultural Commentary

Texas Shooting

It is completely unfathomable to once again hear that innocent lives were taken in yesterday’s shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Like you, I am deeply saddened and asking God for His wisdom in how to process this evil. Jesus tells us we will have trouble, so it should come as no surprise that natural disasters, […]

“Wrestle with God”

“Wrestle with God” . . . that is what the name “Israel” means. Recall the patriarch, Jacob, standing at the edge of the Jabbok River when he wrestles with a man who the Bible vaguely identifies. This “man” appears human at first, but later seems divine. The two of them wrestle all night. Today, high […]

If I haven’t done anything wrong, then why should I worry?

Monitoring our phone conversations, tracking our e-mails and internet browsing, flying drones over the US . . . . one wonders if there is anything that the government doesn’t know about us. It makes me uncomfortable – why? If I haven’t done anything wrong, then why should I worry? The problem is that everyone has […]

What is the purpose of education?

School is drawing to a close for the year – I can hear the collective “hallelujah” in my ears! High school AP exams are finished, and those of you in college have turned in your final paper and taken your last final. You have probably returned home to mom’s cooking and are hoping the huge […]

Adversity is inevitable. Adversity stinks. Adversity is good.

Adversity is inevitable. Adversity stinks. Adversity is good. In some way, shape, or form, these are all parts of Christian doctrine. I can’t think of one person in the Bible that didn’t face adversity. Moses fled Egypt after killing someone, had to face down Pharaoh, and wasn’t allowed to enter the Promised Land. Jeremiah was […]

What brings you joy?

What brings you joy? This question came up the other day, and we all had to really think about it. Some of us said our relationship with God, others talked about their kids, some talked about friends and relationships, and others talked about being in nature. The conversation was going along fine until someone said […]

Serving Others and Lasting Happiness

Sometimes, someone else says it better. This is from John Ortberg’s “When The Game Is Over It All Goes Back In The Box.” A fellow psychology professor, Martin Seligman, engaged his class in a debate about whether happiness comes more readily from acts of kindness or from having fun. He gave them a unique assignment: […]

Believing In the Bible

One of the many reasons I believe in God is because I firmly believe that no human being was smart enough to write the Bible. It is simply too complex, too wise, and too prophetic. The more I study, the more I am amazed at how it fits together – even more incredible since it […]

The existence or non-existence of God

“1 chance in 1000000000000000000000000000000 (followed by another 2970 zeroes)”. “What?”, my friend asked as we sipped our coffee in the local morning hangout. A little background: my atheist friend, who fancies himself as a scientist, had asked me to meet him one morning so we could talk about the existence or non-existence of God. He […]

What do you do with your time?

I woke up this morning, after little sleep, grumbling about all I had to do. Why? Among other things, it wasn’t until 11:00pm last night that my daughter realized that she had to make cookies for her school bake sale. It was 11:30pm that my son realized he needed a flash drive for school the […]

Psalm 130:4

I was reading Psalm 130:4 this week, which says: But with you there is forgiveness, so that you may be feared. That’s odd – what does fear have to do with forgiveness? If anything, shouldn’t forgiveness breed the opposite of fear? Before you default to translating “fear” as “awe”, remember that the most common usage […]

How can there be so much beauty in this world alongside so much evil

How can there be so much beauty in this world alongside so much evil? How can there be so much love alongside so much hate? I asked myself these questions after Newtown; I asked myself these questions after Boston; I asked myself these questions after the earthquake in Iran; I asked myself these questions as […]

How God Works in the World

I was talking with some friends this week who are going through hard times, and the passage in Matthew 6 came up. In verses 25-34, Jesus tells us not to worry. He goes on to tells us that God knows that we need food, drink, and clothes and that these things will be given to […]

Passover Meal

I pray that you had a great Easter celebration last week. As you know, shortly before his crucifixion, Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples. What is very interesting about the Passover meal is the tradition of the afikomen. The afikomen is a matzo, which is broken in half, wrapped in a white linen […]

Good Friday

Good Friday is an opportunity to reflect upon the cross of Christ. The first thing that strikes me is that He is the God who connects with us and offers to comfort us. He is not a distant deity; He knows what it’s like to be in the middle of the challenges we experience in […]

The Tower of Babel

Last week, I was fortunate enough to take a vacation in a place where English was not the dominant language. It got me thinking about why we have so many languages which, of course, brought me back to the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. In this story, the world has one common language and […]

Picking up the Cross and Following Jesus

Earlier this week, the BBC reported that nearly 6,000 dead pigs were pulled from Shanghai’s Huangpu River on Tuesday. How they got there has not been determined. This reminds me of a passage in Mark 5. In this story, Jesus casts out a legion of demons, and they beg him not to banish them from […]

Sequestration, Elijah and Jezebel

Sequestration. Yes, it is the hot topic in Washington. But when I first heard the word, I did not think of budgets – I was taught that a person who “sequesters” oneself is a person who hides from others. And when I think of a person who hides himself from others, I think of Elijah […]

“No, because it’s wrong”

Yesterday, I asked my son and daughter the question: “If the power went out in our town and all of your friends were looting, would you loot too?” Fortunately (big sigh of relief), they both said “No, because it’s wrong”. “Why is it wrong?”, I asked. They both gave a very surprising answer: “because stealing […]

“Intelligent Evil”

On Thursday, February 21st, 2013, fans of the English soccer team, the Tottenham Hotspurs, were attacked in Lyon, France by 50 masked hooligans, chanting anti-Semitic slogans. (The Spurs are a club known for having many Jewish fans.) It truly amazes and horrifies me that this type of behavior cannot be eradicated from society. To me, […]

From Disunion to Union

The President delivered the State of the Union on Tuesday [February 12, 2013] evening. Sometimes when I think of the global church, I think of the State of Disunion. Churches argue with each other, compete with each other, and judge each other. The Catholic church warned that the church would split into multiple denominations when […]

Prayer

The Super Bowl is over, and we have to wait until September for more football. This week, one of my friends was griping about players who pray for their team to win. He rightly asserted that there are players on both sides praying for victory with the inevitable outcome that the losing set of players […]

Adam and Eve were naked and felt no shame

In a previous post, I mentioned that Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden of Eden and felt no shame. If they were in Park City, they might not be feeling shame, but they would be feeling frostbite! What is Genesis 2 getting at? First, you have to ask yourself what causes shame. Most […]

Happy new year everyone!

The start of the year might be a good time to take a look at the start of the Bible, Genesis. Genesis 2 and 3 have always troubled me. I mean, why would God put the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden if He didn’t want Adam and Eve […]

Why Create?

To me, creation is a marvel. We just got a dump of new snow, and it made me think of New Canaan with snow-covered stone walls and the beautiful white fields of Grace Farms. To think that God brought this world into existence by simply breathing over the waters. . . Why create? God creates […]

“Linsanity” and Faith in God

The Sundance Film Festival is currently taking place in my town, Park City. Maybe I am overly sensitive, but it seems like the film industry is mostly anti-religious. Yet in the midst of this, I was able to see the screening of the movie, “Linsanity”, which chronicles Jeremy Lin’s rise to fame. It was a […]

Back to Genesis

Back to Genesis . . . I like the name “Genesis” – especially in the new year, it reminds me of new beginnings and that our past doesn’t matter to God. In chapter 3, Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is interesting that Satan did not entice […]